Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago
Samoa-Pagopagen(sis)
Suffragan diocese · Latin Church · Samoa-Pago Pago, American Samoa
Latin-rite diocese covering the US territory of American Samoa, canonically erected 10 September 1982 from the former unified Diocese of Samoa and Tokelau, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia. Its seat is the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Tafuna, with the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph the Worker in Fagatogo. Bishop Kolio Tumanuvao Etuale became diocesan bishop on 29 April 2023 after serving as coadjutor.
The see
- Rank
- Suffragan diocese
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 10 September 1982
- Latin
- Samoa-Pagopagen(sis)
- Annuario code
- 001002865
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 14,000
- Population
- 68,000
- Catholic share
- 20.6%
- Priests
- 19
- Catholics per priest
- 737
- Extent
- 197 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 71
of the people living within its bounds
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Bishop
- Kolio Tumanuvao Etuale
- Born
- 17 March 1973
- Birthplace
- Lotofaga
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
Cathedral of the Holy Family, Tafuna stands in Samoa-Pago Pago, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
Its co-cathedral is Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph the Worker, Fagatogo.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Samoa-Apia
A suffragan of Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia.
The sees of this province:
- Archdiocese of Samoa-ApiaSamoa-Apia
- Mission Sui Iuris of TokelauTokelau
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
The overseas dependency of American Samoa is served by the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago (Latin: Diœcesis Samoa-Pagopagensis), a Catholic suffragan see within the province of the Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia. Its see church is the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Tafuna. Peter Brown, a Redemptorist, is bishop-elect.
How to reach it
- Chancery
- Bishop’s House, P.O. Box 596, Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799, Oceania
- Telephone
- 699-1402
- [email protected]
This see keeps no website of its own, so its chancery is published here: withholding it would protect nothing and leave a reader with nowhere to go. Where a see publishes its own site, the register sends you there instead.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it, are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].